“…a rather more human view of events than is often the case.”

“The book has two main strengths. First is the author’s great knowledge of the individuals behind most developments in the Japanese Imperial Air Service, from the policy makers to the technicians and engineers who designed the aircraft. We thus get a rather more human view of events than is often the case.

The second comes in the second half of the war, as the Americans begin to close in on Japan. Here the rather breathless writing style comes into its own, and we get a feel of a scene of panic and impending doom as new aircraft designs fail to live up to expectations, and the unreal atmosphere in which aircraft projects that couldn’t produce any results before 1946 or 1947 are approved as the Americans close in on the Home Islands.”